Wanted!
by Mako Streak
Summary: First, hear the tales of the Wanted! mission criminals. What drove them to be like they are? And then, see what happens to them all when they are kept together...
1. Before

Disclaimer- I don't own FFTA. SquareSoft does. Period.

Oh yeah. And one more thing- the two that I've spent the most time and interest on are Killer Rayne and Swampking Kana. So if you find the others boring, skip to them or to the continuation of the tale- Chapter will be titled Evening and Heart.

90909090909090909090909090909090909090909090

Records- Wanted Criminals

Bless our Ivalice! She is normally a safe country, the land of milk and honey for all the good honest citizens.

But there are those that stray from the path of righteousness... And those must be kept apart from all of society. And those, we will be confining for life, for the sake of all our citizens.

And that is why we have built the quarters.

(It's in the middle of nowhere. What better place to keep dangerous criminals?)

It's a quaint little place, separate cells and all. It is connected to the prison too, so it can double as a prison for normal clanners just breaking the law...

But no matter what, no matter who says it can be overridden, the seven criminals _must_ be kept away from the normal ones. Contact between the two sides may result in jailbreaks and all matter of unlawful actions.

These are the criminals that should be grateful- they have been taken from the ruthless lands and given a home and food and warmth- their freedom is a small price to pay for that.


	2. Dolce

I suppose you know me. I'm a Black Mage. My mommy told me I was a nu mou, but everyone else says I'm a maniac. I don't think I'm a maniac, just that I'm a misfit, I guess.

You want to know why I'm here?

And everything started at once! It all started when I was eight, at the fair.

Well, there was a baker, a real scary guy if you ask me. The baker was probably some mumbo clanner hired at the nick of time. I mean, what kind of baker can't tell baking powder from baking soda? I mixed the two bottles up. It was hilarious. Anyways, he was making little cookies in cool shapes in exchange for a few gil.

I asked him to make me a chocobo, and he did, and I ran away! I ran away before the dumb bunny even looked up! Ha. So that was my first count, I guess. That was probably where I learned to eat and run, always order something small, eat, pretend you just saw an old friend, needed to go to the restrooms, stuff like that. Never be seen again.

But unfortunately, Mommy caught me and made me say "Sorry" to the dumb bunny. They spent a long time talking about "Apologies, Sorry," and "I'll make sure he bothers no one again."

So Mommy dragged me kicking and screaming out of the fair. I yelled all right, yelled and hollared as loud as a little brat could! "No! I don't want to go! Put me down! PUT ME DOWN!"

In the end, she tipped this one scary Defender bangaa to toss me over his shoulder like a sack of flour and march back home. I kicked hard, I punched hard as hell! And I never saw that Defender again.

I was grounded. I was grounded. Well, Daddy thought that locking me up in my room was a smart thing to do, to make me learn my lesson. It wasn't. Here's what happened...

I was playing with a candle, heating up the wax with little Fires and molding it. It was fun. I made a chocobo, a hat, a rod, a cookie, and the Defender.

"Ha!" I said. "Ha! I can make everything I want in this room! I don't need the stinking cookie!" I declared. But it was a hot day, and I was stuck in the middle of the room at noon. Hey! That kinda rhymes! Anyways, Fires naturally don't make wax hot. And I wanted an icee. So I thought. The icee couldn't be warm. Then it'd be a meltee. So I thought and I thought, and I used a Blizzaga on it! Oh! It was hilarious! The whole wax shattered in a bijillion pieces! HAHAHA!

Ah-hem. So anyways, that was when I learned to be reckless with my magic.

When walking to school, I would do random stuff that grown-ups would never allow me to do, like blow up a few fences, oh, they were small fences anyways. Mrs. Swallowtail wouldn't care. But I got in trouble for blowing up THE CLASSROOM! Oh, that was hilar-ious! I can't stop laughing today. So everyone says "What the chocobos is that?" And the desks blew up!

Of course they found out it was me.

So you see, I'm always getting caught. But the habit stuck on even after Mommy and Daddy died, so I ran off to make my fortune.

Fortune! I'm kidding, the most a clanless Black Mage could make in those rural parts was a few gil an hour doing little stuff everywhere. Like a just-heat-and-serve lunch. No, a just-call-and-command clanner. Barely enough to feed me! But then, I traveled to the different parts. No one would reconize me from one place to the other. So I learned the eat-and-run tactics of Guerilla-lunch-warfare. I never stole big stuff, only little things anyways. And sometimes, I was so bored, BAM! A tree blew up.

So this continued on until on day, I was just strolling along Nubswood with a bunch of friends, when poof! Blondie shows up and his Soldier whips the wits out of me.

So here I am.

Huh? Why not in a Prison? Oh, this is a prison all right. See the collar around me neck? Yes, it's pretty. Me? No! It's girly! I don't wear girly stuff- Ack! My hat doesn't count! So anyways, I'm here. With all the other Wanted nutcases. And there aren't even any girls, well, there's Rayne, but a couple of Last Breaths and I learned to leave her alone. Anyways, I think I'm stuck here.


	3. Gabanna Brothers, Little Gabanna

My big brother's always looking out for me. Our reals names? I guess that we had little names, like Peter or Robert or Mary-Ann at one time. (Wait! Mary-Ann? That was the neighbor's pretty girl's name... I wonder how I still remember.)But after Mother and Father died, Big and Little Gabbana became the only names we ever knew.

We're actually really religious and real superstitious, and although you can't tell, we're normally very lucky guys, kupo. It was just that on our one bad luck day, we were ambushed in the desert.

I guess you want to know how we got this way. Would you believe that we used to be little pets of the queen herself? Nana would take us to the palace, and we would chat a bit with the Prince. I heard once that the Queen thought that we, as two-year-olds, were the second most adorable thing she had ever seen. I guess the first is the Prince, but we'd probably never know.

I don't know why. My memories are patched and worn away at a lot of parts. I don't remember Daddy anymore, only that he died. But I remember Nana. She was a viera, I recall, more of a guardian than a Nana or caretaker. She saved me and Big Gabanna a couple of times, kupo. Sometimes she would sneak into the Palace and converse with the Queen. She never knew I saw, and I never told anyone except for Big Gabanna. Huh? Why did I tell only him? What do you mean? Huh? Why would I not tell my brother? You're confusing me, kupo. Anyways, back to Nana.

One Day Nana came back to my house. There were a bunch of Templars following her. She yelled something about traitors to my parents, and there was this sudden, sharp pain in my head... As if someone had hit me with the pommel of a sword or maybe a spear...I'm not sure what happened next because I blacked out.

When I woke up, Mother and Father lay on the floor dead. I never saw Nana again. Bless their souls in Heaven. Bless Nana's soul, wherever she is.

Neither one of us know what happened. I think that the Templars killed them. I wonder what happened to Nana? I don't think we ever saw her again. Maybe she'll come back someday and everything will be okay again... Nevermind.

Well, after Mother and Father... Left for God's embrace, me and Big Gabanna left. It wasn't easy to scrape up anything, so after nearly starving to death as good, honest workers at only age six and seven, we did the only thing we could. We resorted to stealing.

You see how my fur's so thin and patched in some places? Well, I have this rare disorder. Sometimes it hurts, but then I remember that I have a big brother who loves me and that God loves me... And I feel better. But it was always so cold... Always cold... So we had to move to the desert, Jeraw Sands, I think, and we began targetting the desert travellers.

We never stole much, only as much as we could carry. And almost all of it was food and medicine. I don't understand what's so bad- I mean, the Palace has plenty enough supplies... Wait, I'm not sure if it was the Palace merchants we raided.

Four times we were caught, and four times we killed. Actually, I only killed once, and that was by accident. It went something like this...

Although I don't remember much, I remember that there was a bangaa... The bangaa had grabbed Big Gabanna and I. I was holding a knife, I remember... A TipTapToe we stole somewhere. And there was nothing I could do but stab...The poor bangaa. The Lord gave us extra luck that day. He never meant for me to actually kill... But I hit a main artery in his neck, and his windpipe. He fell dead after his death throes...

We prayed for him all night, until dawn. We made him crosses and placed a Holy Book over his heart. God has forgivin our great sin of killing that time. And the bangaa's probably in Heaven now, God bless his soul...

But apparently, He decided that four times slaughter was too much. We weren't supposed to kill, and we lievd simply, taking only what we needed and never anything superflus. But one day, Clan Nutsy came after us.

We fought all night, we did. In the end, the Sniper... She shot me. I fell down, and so did Big Gabanna. The Lord still loves us all. So we weren't executed, bless the Defender's heart.

So here we are, I guess.

They thought that by taking all our loot and our weapons away they punished us. They thought that sending us here to live with the other fiveWanted criminals was to break our hearts.

But the place is nice enough. I'm never cold and never hungry. And the other day, I was bored! I was actually bored! I had never been bored, only scared, cold, or hungry.

Erp. Well, as I was saying, they thought it would break our hearts. But it's okay here. As long as my and my brother are together, there is nothing that can kill my soul. The Lord loves us. So that's my story.

God bless your heart.


	4. Diaghileb Godeye

I hope you didn't come here looking for a story to cheer you up on your way home. I wish I had a way home...

My name is Diaghileb Godeye. I do have a third eye, you know. I just keep it covered up by my hat. Its use does not lie in seeing physical things. Instead, it sees all sorts of things. Like I know what you had for lunch and what is going in in Ambervalle. Also that you think I'm a lunatic. Hmm? What's that you said? Lucky guess? Far from lucky guess- I know. My third eye tells me all.

I learned everything about forgery and conterfeiting from the printshop near town. I've always worn a cap or a hat- it's not the quality of the Third Eye I'm worried about- it's not mutilated or ugly or deformed. No, it's completely identical to my other eyes. But even when it's closed, everyone can see that I have three eyes.

Diaghileb means "Godeye," just like my surname. It wasn't given to me be anyone other than myself. I didn't have a wonderful childhood, as you can tell.

Master and Mistress were constantly drunk. Sometimes they would throw things at me. See the scar from my neck to my head? Of course you can't see it. It's covered by a collar. Everyone here wears one- it suppresses all but the minorest of spells.

Anyways, it was from the time they threw a sword from a decorative suit of armor. That's why I don't talk or breathe well- it cut through my windpipe.

I died? No! Then what would I be doing here, talking to you? No, it just slit the surface. I can't speak or breathe well, but that's a small price compared to my life.

As soon as I was old enough, I ran away. I stowed away in a hay cart, nibbling on greens with the chocobos as night and hiding by day.

I got off at Lutia...

That was where I set up a workshop. I bought a little cabin there from an old Alchemist who wanted nothing more but to go back to Cyril with his family. I fell in love with that little house, I tell you- I was utterly besotted.

I remember all the days I used to spend watching the birds in the birdfeeder out the window, or stocking up on firewood and chasing the deer out of the vegetables... Those were peaceful days.

I set up a business there. That wasn't enough- I became greedy... And there... I began to conterfeit gil.

Yep. That's all. Clan Nutsy? Oh. One day a clan came out of nowhere and a viera kicked my butt. Actually, she shot my neck, but same difference.

Here? I can say that I long to be somewhere, somewhere where my home waits for me, and my empty laboratory waits for someone that will never come back to light the furnace again... Somewhere where the beauty of Ambervale cowers behind the sunrise on the snow just outside my home... Every night I think about my empty home and my empty laboratory and the empty birdfeeder and the deer-eaten vegetable garden and the little space in Lutia Pass that will never be the same.

And I'll come back someday. If not in this life, I promise.


	5. Swampking Kanan

A cup of tea? Oh no, sssorry, I don't drink tea... I don't drink blood either. That's jusssst a rumor. Well, would you like lemon or sssugar- Huh? You never excepted a criminal like me to offer you choissssesss, no? Let me tell you, I wasssn't alwaysss thisss way.

Father wasss a Royal Guard, one of the Queen'sss Own. He used to take me to work often, and after that, sssometimessss we would go fishing and he would tell me how- Huh? I'm not crying! There'sss just dussst in my eye! Erm, a big piessse of dussst! Well, he bragged to all hissss friendssss that I wasss going to be another Queen'sss Own. The pressssent Queen? No, the one before, Queen... Queen... I forget. Anywayssss, I wassss jusssst a kid back then, jussst playing with a toy ssspear and a pot on top of my head for a helmet... Yessss, I wasss quite a silly kid, wasssn't I? But I alwayssss wanted to pleassse him. I would do everything, at the rissssk of my own life. Becausssse of the glory it gave me.

Well, he wassss sssso proud of me. I wasss the top of all my classses at the Royal Academy, not just combat, but intellectual thingssss too.

Finally, it came time for the new Queen to be sssworn in. And remember how she picked her Guards right out of the assssembled? Right then right there?

I wassss her firsssst choisssse. You should have ssseen my father, how he roared hissss heart out with the crowd! It wassss one of the bessst momentsss of my life.

The ssssaddessst day came when both Mother and Father died in the ssssame hour.

Blurred out of what was bad and good, I made a terrible dessssissscion that day- I drunk myssself ssssilly. The hangover wassss awful, but worssse than that, the shame, the shame... I had behaved no better than a vagabond clanner. And that ssstill painsss me today.

I sssswore never again to act in ssssuch a manner... But I wassss tempted oh ssso many timessss...

Finally I gave in . It wasss a sssuny day, after we had completely one particularly dangerousss misssion. We were drunk, I recall. I knew what the result would be, that I would be shamed if I were sssso drunk as that of that day... But that didn't ssstop usss, me and my comradesss.

I won't tell you what came out of that night. Let'ssss jussst say it consssernsss a viera, a club and all of ussss.

The shame when I realissed what I had done nearly killed me.

I ssswore never to act in sssuch a manner again.

But even sssso, the shame! The shame waited down sssso greatly that, to pressserve myself, I resssorted to the lowesssst to methodsss- I took to gambling and playing cardssss.

My rank fell, but I didn't care. I was too busssy with cardsss and drinksss.

Finally, it came one day that I realissed what I had been doing.

I cannot even begin to tell you how clossse I came to my very own death, the death of my heart, my sssoul...

I fled, seeking penance and repent. I never told anyone I wassss gone...

If you go back, you'll find my name in the rossster ssstill. You'll ssstill find on the lissst:

Kanan Rashanti-Evressstiasss.

But you'll know that no matter what, Kana Rashanti-Everssstiasss isssn't coming back.

Swampking Kanan killed charming, loyal Rashanti-Everssstiasss.

And he'sss killing me too.

I've made a lot of bad desssciossions. I repent. Someday, there will be an eagle that sssoarsss to me. I'll fly away in its clawssss, and the shame that pursssues my heart conssstantly cannot follow and, with time, will die.

But no matter what, Kanan Rashanti-Evressstiasss is never coming back.


	6. Killer Rayne

I've never had a boyfriend.

Yep. That's what I tell everyone when I first meet them. I never had a boyfriend, much less a husband.

Why? I don't understand! I'm beautiful, smart, sexy, and I can kill four men and two bangaas without anyone noticing. Maybe it was the last part that scared everyone away...

Remember the old school dances? Boys would blush and stammer "W-Will you d-d-dance with me?" And the girls would blush and say "Well, sure!" And it would be that one dance, one spark in the world, that started up a whole relationship... And two miserable, lonely broken hearts in the end.

But I missed everything. I was never handed a bouqet of roses on Valentine's Day. I was never kissed, and the only ones that loved me were my parents, which is not the sort of love a 15-year-old viera going through puberty looks for.

Back then, I didn't think I cared about love. I didn't care, didn't mind... Or at least I thought so.

But by the time I gained the reputation of a fierce fighter and a killer... It was too late.

What happened was that this one Blue Mage's kid stuck frogs in my desk, in middle school. I was a Sniper child then, which was pretty amazing considering that I was only fourteen. I was experimenting with a grappling technique that the bangaa down the street taught me, and a Concentrate. Now, I'm not scared of frogs. I'm not scared of bugs, slugs, things that crawl, things that fly, etc. But I was really, really angry...

So boom!

I had the Blue Mage's son pinned down on the teacher's desk and was slamming his head against the corner, yelling "Apologize! Or eat Death Scythe!"

And then the principal of the School Board came in.

Yep. So, I was suspended... I probably would have been expelled if it wasn't for the fact that they knew what kind of viera I would grow into someday. A Star Assassin, the mistress of her trade... Out for revenge. Not necessarily pleasant.

I was not raised in a very good environment. Mommy and Daddy died so long ago... And my big sister Moonfall is all that was left. She doesn't let me call her Moonfall anymore. Says it's an old fashioned name. I have to call her Maddie.

She supports both of us in the only way she can. Although she's never here are evening and night, she is always there for me. When my sister wasn't there, I was left with... Nothing in my heart. I did my homework mechanically. Nothing bought me out of my soullessness until Maddie came home. Once, in a sudden rage of loneliness, I walked by the park by moonlight. The school bully was waiting for me. When I was teetering on the verge of unconsciousness, somehow... It had something to do with Carbuncle. A glowing lizard scampered out of the bushes and turned into a chocobo. No one but me noticed.

A few minutes later, Maddie came sprinting from her job, hasty enough to accidently throw on a Defender client's cloak instead. She was followed by a Fighter, and my pointed and yelled.

The next thing I knew, Maddie cast a Curaga on me... And the Fighter was beating up the bully. But Maddie wore only the cloak. And everyone saw her profession.

So when word got out, I was the laughingstock and the scapegoat of the whole school- because my big sister worked in Lower Cyril as... You don't want to know.

They called Maddie a dirty little slut. It would have been better if they had called her one straight in my face, rather than whispering about it in the halls and suddenly smiling sweetly as I walked by. They forgot I was a viera and I could hear them...

And I got in so much trouble... Picking fights with the kids that gossiped about us.

One day, after a near-suspension, Moonfall, er, Maddie sat me down at our home. Maddie was... Er... Naturally talented for her job.

"I know that you're very upset about what's been going on at school,"she had said to me. And what she said next changed my life.

"But sometimes you really just gotta do what you've gotta do to make your way in this world. I... I'm a Summoner... Before Mom and Dad died... But no clan wants a baby sister... And so now, I just have to do what I have to do. You're going to be a Star Assassin someday. So, until that day comes, you gotta duck and dodge and hit until that day comes. No matter what, we'll get through. Always remember that light at the end of the tunnel and aim for it. You'll never miss."

I held onto those words even until now...

But one day... I don't know there was shouting, there was Ifrit and Shiva all of a sudden... The whole village attacked us. There was no way for anyone to hold them off. They thought that we were going corrupt the children.

I lay next to Maddie. I knew that we were dying. I just knew. And Maddie had enough life left for one last Summon...

She looked at me, her eyes smiled because the rest of her face was too torn away too.

Phoenix appeared. Maddie whispered something in an Ancient Tongue and pointed to me. Phoenix nodded. The next thing I knew, I was flying away...

I never went back to the village. It held too many memories... Too many nightmares... But the last thing I saw was Maddie flying next to me... She had wings too... Wings that formed because she had to say goodbye...

I wandered Ivalice as an Assassin from there on, killing whoever I was supposed to and... Occassionally taking after Maddie. Sometimes I would drink myself silly. I was on the brink of suicide. But my sister's words to me and her love for me kept me going, going until I found Raider...

He was a Templar. And he was my first boyfriend. He dragged my out of the Fire Club once he saw what an Assassin I was and put me in his clan.

They were my Maddies from then on. I told them everything, from my history to Carbuncle's favorite cookie recipe... To Maddie. I thrived in their love, and became the best Assassin history had ever known! I developed a reputation as a merciless killer too. And I was. As long as I was with my Maddies, I didn't care who I killed. I was bathed in golden light.

Where are they now?

Well... One day, we had a Jagd battle... The Palace pursued us. Raider had refused. He had refused to join the Royal Force, and when the very Queen called him a selfish bastard reluctant to serve the land and goodwill, he spat in her face and called her a miserly whore hiding behind all her guards and Judges and the such. Jadg Helje. I'll never forget that day.

Raider died in my armsl coughing up blood. His last words to me were... "You were my Maddie too..."

Huh? I'm not crying! Swear! I'm not crying! I just have watery eyes today... Er... Woke up and Godeye's potion fell on top of me. Huh? So what if he was in the other end of the hall!

I'll never forgot Raider or the clan. There were a few that decided to move away, since Raider was dead... But a few remained by my side and elected my leader to move out to avenge Raider.

We carried out our duties. We murdered everyone related to that troop that killed him... Finally, there was only one left. After an unsuccessful search, we began to return to the Jadg...

A Paladin and an Assassin followed up into our base.

I remember yelling, "Eat Ultima Masher!" and the viera yelled,

"Do you think we came unprepared?"

They whipped us. But we lived, after several days in the hospital and several weeks for me. The others were let go, but me...

I was their leader, the head murderer. And I was sentenced here.

Do I feel bad about murdering all of those innocents as well as soldiers just following orders?

They killed Raider. They killed me. Why should I feel bad?

I still miss Raider. And the Clan.

They were my Maddies.


	7. Dark Duke Lodion

As a child and still now, I love butterflies. They would fly around my head all day and drink out of my cup with me. The garden was always filled with them, all year round. Mother and Father knew better than to let anyone or anything, even the force of the world, take my butterflies away from me. So with magic and careful gardening, the butterflies stayed all year.

So for me there were the butterflies. And there was Elyasia.

She was an Elementalist. She loved all growing things and loved the butterflies as much as I did. We spent days after days together, only pausing to go to our tutors and depart at sunset, when all the butterflies went to sleep.

At first, she only came to the garden because of the butterflies. And I waited out in the garden all day because of the butterflies too.

But that changed. She came because I was there. And I stayed out all day because she would come.

And she began to not leave at sunset, which I was dearly glad of. She would stay for a while, and we would talk in my room. And then, before the moon fully rose, she would leave and say, "Promise I'll come back, Lodion, if you promise you'll be there."

I had never taken those words seriously, only as a little joke. I had never answered, only laughed.

But now I know better.

When it came time for me to choose a bride to carry on the family lineage, it was no surprise that Elyasia came as my first choice.

But she was already betrothed to another noble, a higher ranking one. I remember the day I found out, the butterflies looked in the garden for me all day.

Elaysia came to me that day, crying. She promised that she had not choice but to marry the noble. Promised that she would always look over her husband's shoulder when they hugged, looking for me. We kissed, and then she departed before anyone could see. I was to duke-to-be. And that was my first kiss.That day I died. I stayed in the basement, forging my own special magic, one to save both of us with. I had no love for light anymore. I had no love for life. But I loved two things- Elaysia and the butterflies.

So from all the time I spent in that laboratory, down in the basement where nothing but mold and mildew and dampness grew, I aquired the nickname the "Dark Duke."

One night, it was finished. I call it the Dark Heart. I had smiled so much that day, smiled so humorlessly, so evilly, so malicious... Only two things separated me from insanity and evil- and they were Elaysia and the butterflies.

I gathered whatever followers most loyal to me and announced that we were running away from law, away where the noble that claimed Elaysia so uncaringly would never follow. And that would be a Jadg.

I remember my words that night. I called to Elaysia in her window, "Sweet Elaysia, if you will still have me, we shall steal away and never be seen by them again. We will never be apart."

But I was pre-empted. Lovely Elaysia wasn't in her window.

High Duke Thomson leaped out the window and struck me in the neck. I thought I would have died if all of a sudden, the pommel of the rapier I thought I'd never see again struck his head.

Elaysia smiled at me. "We'll have to run fast. We'll make it to the Jagd before anyone notices."

So Elaysia, my followers, and I made our way to from town to town, killing anyone we saw. I killed most of them, blowing them up and creating such grusome distortions that no one would dare come after us.

So all of us started a new life in the Jagd Dorsa. We grew things, we worked hard, but we never went cold or hungry for it.

I had Elaysia and the butterflies and my dearest friends.

_Nothing could go wrong,_ I thought.

Until that day.

A devil with hair the color of Elaysia's Shining Air and eyes the color of her sliprain showed up.

His Assassin killed me with one fatal Last Breath.

Now, I'm here. With all the other nutcases.

Elaysiais allowed to visit once a year.She joined a clan of other viera and a funny pink-haired human. She is now a Summoner, and every once a year that she is allowed to visit, we cry and sit together, totally ignoring the huge Defenders butting into scared moments with their huge heads.

But one day, one Defender said to me, "Lodion, you may by a total nutjob, but you're lucky. I think that you're one of the lucky onesss."

I had asked why. He replied, "Sssomeone dearly lovesss you. And that'sss more than mosst of usss ever find." And he lumbered off.

Elaysia still says "Promise I'll come back, Lodion, if you promise you'll be there."

But there's one difference.

I would kiss her and say, "Promise I'll be here," and remember two things-

Elaysia and the butterflies.


	8. Prologue II

Note: These also make for good monologues if you're auditioning. I also have written a monologue of Mariasta talking to Raven concerning her envy to Callypso, if you want an interesting piece to audition with.

909090909090909090

So now you know each of their stories. They aren't bad at all, just the very special ones of society that need our attention.

Is it fair to keep them like this? What would be a better solution?

And for Lodion- what about Elaysia? Should they let her visit? Why might they not?

Now, since you've seen each of their backgrounds, it's time to see them all together. How they help heal each other... And something more blossoms between two of them.

Now, on to the next chapter- the actual beginning of this story- Evening and Heart


	9. Evening and Heart

"Ah, who's the latest nutcase added to our personal asylym?" Godeye commented cryptically as a chronically-depressed looking Illusion walked unsurely into the room.

"Sssit, ssson," Kanan commented, swinging his legs onto the table.

"Lodion. Dark Duke Lodion," he replied glumly.

"Nice name," the Assassin on the table. She sighed. "So, why are you here?"

Lodion explained.

"When do I get to get out of here?" he asked.

Rayne, whose name he had recently aquired, explained. "You see everything here? Awfully nice for a Prison, no? Well, it's because we're all here for life."

90909090909090

"You still misssss your old clan?" a voice hissed from the dark.

Rayne turned around from the sight of the heavily-guarded front of the Prison from where she stood on the veranda.. Despite the position in the middle of the deadliest desert in Ivalice, it was still heavily guarded with well-paid Defenders and angry-looking Red Chocobos.

The Assassin sighed. "Yep. How'd you guess?" She sighed and leaned against the metal railing, gazing out at the glows of the sunset, which was caged in barbed wire and delicate, slender clouds.

Kanan came to lean on the railing next to her. He nodded his head at her. "You looked lonely. Sssso I came out here."

"To be with me? Aww, Kanan, that's so sweet!" She giggled.

A moody scowl passed over his face, like a cloud over a bright sky. For a moment, Raider's fine features stared out at the sunset, his birthright's mark like a blaze of darker flame that trickled down his face... No. He wasn't Raider. Raider was gone.

But Raider still stood, smiling at her like he had so many times... Come to take her out from the Fire Club of sin for more purpose of love and benevolence than desire...Rayne shook her head. Raider's invisible face, complete with the blood dripping out of his throat stared at her.

He had died. And she was helpless. She did not do anything. And Raider died. Maybe even for it.

She suddenly howled. "Dammit, Raider, why couldn't you have taken me with you?" she screamed and threw a few stones at the setting sun, as if it could have saved Raider but didn't... Like herself.

"Hush, hush, pretty one," the Templar soothed, stroking her hair softly like a small child. He held her close, not romantically, but trying to hush her strangled sobs...

"Oh... Maddie, I'm sorry, I missed it... I missed..." she wailed miserbly.

Kanan tried futiley to hush her. "You've never missssed anything."

909090909090909090909090

Occasionally, there would be a sudden surplus of supplies, or too many of the same unwanted Present Day gifts. Sometimes they were distributed to the minor nobles... But after a while, it became profitable to order the prisoners to make products and sell them on the market.

Diaghelib Godeye smiled slightly to himself as the brush danced across the canvas, creating an idyllic scene...

Snow was falling. It feathered its gentleness over the trees of the forest and blanketted the ground in pure whiteness. In the middle of the clearing in that picture, the snow fell on a house. A small bucolic cabin, glowing warmly and brightly amist the snowy forest evening around it. The twilight shed a glow over the snow so mutedly colorful and lovely that Ambervale could not rival it to any extent.

Godeye's third eye peered back in time to the dim reaches of his depthless mind... The scene was so beautiful, he could not help but begin to recreate it on a blank canvas...

His brushed dipped and flickered, and before long, the silhouette of a nu mou sipping tea in front of a furnace appeared in the mirror...

He dropped the brush in a sudden rush of memory. He knew the scene too well.

It was his home, with the underground laboratory in Lutia Pass...

No. It couldn't be. He tried so hard to forget it... He tried so hard to forget that quaint little cabin where he had lived so many years before...

He plucked the gorgeous painting of the tranquil scene off the easel.

As a Defender walked past, he suddenly shoved the painting into the bangaa's hands, oblivious of what value such a beautiful painting held. "Here. It's for you. Get it out of me sight," he said gruffly.

The Defender, too stunned by his good luck on aquiring such a treasure, barely muttered a stammering "Thanksss- -u-u-umm..." And careful to avoid touching the wet paint, he rushed out to put it somewhere safe.

Godeye groaned and sank into his seat. He began fussing the brush, fussing the paint... Until all of a sudden, nonsense appeared before his eyes on the canvas... He fought down nausea as he painted. They weren't just slashes of color and freckles, they were his emotions, his mind, dripping with self-loathing, wailing with loneliness... And all in the while, tintednostalgia's soft melancholy blue.

"Hey!" His concentration broken by the shout, Godeye scowled and looked up.

It was one of the random nobles that dropped by to see their works, which normally were fine enough quality to sell for very pretty gil.

The noblemangrinned wildly. "It's new! It's fantastic! It's totally original-"

"It's a mess. Here, take it," Godeye snapped, thrusting the piece of his mind (which us readers know it the Ivalician equivalent of Contemperary and Modern art) into the noble's hands.

His eyes gleamed with a mad incadenscence. "It's so new! My friends'll be so jealous! You're a mad genius, and mad genius..." His voice trailed off as he raced down the hall.

"Oh great," he muttered, picking up another canvas and resuming his painting.

909090909090909090909090909090

"Here." Kanan lead her to his room and sat her on his bed. He snatched out a few boxes of tissues and closed the door against any prying guards. "Tell me what'sss bothering you," he commanded as he plopped down beside her.

"I-I just miss my old friends... And my sister... Nevermind."

For an instant, Kanan _was_ Raider, with his fire-mark and his eyes shining on her...

Raider evaporated as Rayne burst into tears again.


	10. Home

**Diaghileb Godeye **

I had been a wandering journeyman for years, travelling across Ivalice for work and food. I never had a good solid home.

Often times I had saw these cute little children scramble in and out of homes oh so blissfully, and I had wondered, why didn't I have a home like them?

But I was too hungry and tired to care too much. But as I spread my reputation as a superior Alchemist across the land, I came to have more free time inbetween jobs, because I didn't have to serve part-time and random waiters and clerks for pieces of moldy bread. There was one day that changed my life forever.

Before the third of Madmoon that year, a great life to me was decent slightly-stale bread in my stomach and a coat with less than three patches.My wealth grew from a seed of determination and endurance to the rose of triumph... But triumph gives you eyes, a vision, a sight. And that was what costed me my life until I came home.

As usual, after a hard day in a rented lab, I took a walk down the lane, preferably to a park or some green location.But this day was different.

She was a little viera, I recall, no more than three years, and she was lost- hopelessly lost in the roads. She was lost and alone, and naturally, and prayed helped from the first creature she came across, which was me.

So not knowing what to do, I picked her up and carried her on my back to a location she muttered about, the place she whispered about through her childish tears.

Her mother was terrified when she had been gone for five whole minutes. They had one happy reunion. I was glad that the little viera had found her way home. But a thought hit me as I continued back to the lab-

Why don't I have a home?

Not a coat, not a hotel room, but a home where, if I were lost, I could ask someone for directions.

I played with that idea of having a good solid home.

One day, I'd be lost, and I'd come across someone else, like a Hunter that knew the terrain well. He'd say, "Are you lost?" And I'd admit I was. He'd ask me where I needed to go, and instead of saying "A rented lab," I'd say, "I need to go home." And when he'd ask me where home was, I'd describe a little house, not very big or fancy, but home enough for me. He'd give me directions, I'd thank him, and we'd both go on our ways, him to the Ranger station, and me to my home.

It took many, many years before I found a home. I had wandered everywhere, but no one seemed to know any houses that needed selling. I came across the old nu mou one day.

We were both drinking in the pub, and he was scribbling something down on a paper, crossing it out, and throwing the paper away. He was muttering, muttering like a crazed beast. I made out the murmurings to be about him not finding anyone to buy his house and how badly he wanted to go home.

I interuppted him about it, and we negotiated a good price. He tossed the deed in my hands, saddled his chocobo, and raced out to his other house with all his family.

And I raced to Lutia Pass.

The house was no grand old thing. It was just a little cabin with a large laboratory underneath. Not much and barely liveable, but I could not afford a whole team of renovators. So I took upon the task myself.

I could not work in the lab until I finished the repairs, fixing the roof (which was about to collapse), repairing the walls, making the water run again...It was hard labor, and I was often hurt in the doing. But it was the labor of love, and those cuts and broken bones and sprained ankles had the same effect as wisps of dust blowing on your head.

Winter that year was cold and harsh. The wind would shriek and whip the snow into my face. I slept cold at night, and nearly froze to death a few times. But I continued.

As winter glowed to spring, the house was finished. For the first time in my entire life, I belonged somewhere. There was somewhere I could go to.I was someone!

I lived out my life in that house for ten years. It was not an easy life, as I had to work hard during the gathering and growing days, but I was happy.

And when Marche came to take me away from my beloved home and set me in this false home, I never forgot my house. I'm going back someday.


	11. Missing the Light

**Killer Rayne**

I missed the light.

_"But sometimes you really just gotta do what you've gotta do to make your way in this world. I...I'm a Summoner... Before Mom and Dad died... But no clan wants a baby sister... And so now, I just have to do what I have to do. You're going to be a Star Assassin someday. So, until that day comes, you gotta duck and dodge and hit until that day comes. No matter what, we'll get through. Always remember that light at the end of the tunnel and aim for it. You'll never miss."_

I'm sorry, Maddie... So sorry... I missed the light completely... That light was my life... And I aimed, Maddie, I aimed like you told me too! I ducked and dodged with the best ot them, Maddie, I did! And I struck back too! I did! And Maddie, we never got through... Either of us...

Maddie, I'm so sorry. I died for me... Phoenix's wings take only one passanger... You knew I'd become great!

But I didn't, did I? I never became what you said I'd become! I'm so sorry, Maddie... So sorry to let you down...

I'm sorry, Maddie, I never was great... I couldn't become great...

And I'm guessing that up there, somewhere in the sky, you're flittering around on a pair of wings far, far away from me... And sometimes you'll sit down and have tea with Raider.

Next time you do, tell Raider that I'm so sorry... Sorry to have let him die... When I could have done something.

I'm sorry, Maddie... But I had one shot at the light... And he died in a cold, cold heartless Jadg so far away from me...


End file.
